Kingsport man arrested on child porn charges

A Kingsport man has been indicted and arrested following the alleged discovery of more than 100 images of child pornography on his computer.

Keith Shapardon, 24, was located early Wednesday morning at his home, 362 Valley Street. Sullivan County Assistant District Attorney Julie Canter says a grand jury returned sealed indictments against Shapardon on Jan. 29, charging him with sexual exploitation of a minor and tampering with evidence.

Canter said the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office began investigating the case in May. The SCSO confirms a search was conducted and seized Shapardon's computer, which was then analyzed at the SCSO digital forensics lab by Det Matt Price.

At the lab, which is primarily used to investigate Internet crimes against children, the pornography was reportedly retrieved from the computer. Canter said the tampering charge against Shapardon is related to a thumb drive — suspected to contain additional child porn materials — that he allegedly destroyed upon learning of the police investigation.

As of Wednesday afternoon Shapardon remained held at the Sullivan County jail in Blountville on a $40,000 bond.